T Town Tommy

Tuesday Travel Update

A week has passed on my trips to Canada and Washington State! My stay in Vancouver B.C. was everything I thought it would be to my pleasant surprise. Vancouver itself and its surrounding communities combine to make for a huge city with a population over 2.2 million with over half its residents not having English as their primary language. I would have been in culture shock had I not grown up in a major metropolitan city "not Tulsa" and am somewhat use to hearing Japanese, Chinese, French and a multitude of other various languages walking around the malls and down the crowded city streets. It was a welcome change from just hearing Spanish and English in Oklahoma.

I now understand why Vancouver is called the Emerald City with all the conifers and green area parks, the buildings look like they were all built by the same company with the green glass and drab concrete. Vancouver in 2010 is hosting the Olympics and many areas are being torn up with new mass transit trams and venues being hurriedly built. It should be interesting to see how all the heavy construction effects it's ranking as one of the top three livable cities in the world. Overall it was a great trip, I don't know if I would want to live in Vancouver but traveling over 2,000 miles to visit was worth it. Check out over twenty photos from my trip on the T Town Tommy flickr site.

Oklahoma Mountain Man

Day six is now over on my trip to Northern Washington State and Canada. I spent yesterday traveling east, deeper into the Cascade Mountain Range. It was amazing driving on the sides of the mountains at altitudes up to 3,600 feet. This is the skiing area for most Seattle residents and the lodges where bristling with residents getting in the last of decent powder before spring hits. Growing up on the US Gulf Coast and then moving to Oklahoma I am pretty much a flat-lander and couldn't ski down a hill if my very life depended on it.

Fortunately there is a little Bavarian alpine village called Leavenworth nestled in the beautiful Cascades that offers tons of shopping and the best in German food and of course BEER. Far be it for me to pass up a good stout pint! I never really considered Washington State as being a skiing state but the mountain views made me dizzy and my palms where sweating the entire drive.

Tomorrow I am off to Vancouver B.C. after having my birth certificate sent to me via FedEx so I can get across the border. I had wrongfully assumed a driver license would be enough to get into Canada. Turns out you need to have a passport now or at the very least a U.S. government ID and a birth certificate or you're not getting into Canada. It crossed my mind to perform a Mexican style crossing but the rivers up north are a bit colder than the Rio Grande.

Mountain Hike

Anyone up for a hike? Keeping to my word on this vacation I decided today to take in nature and accomplish a big challenge for me. For those of you new to the site I went through two major surgeries a few months ago and I have been taking it easy for a bit too long now. So I decided to embark on a seven mile mountain hike up and along the river and falls in Wallace Falls State Park, Washington. I took the more difficult but much more scenic hike right along the water and up the mountain for 3.5 miles up and 3.5 miles back down following the waters edge and switchbacks. I'm certainly sore tonight but the pictures, physical challenge and knowing I am now healed from three months worth of surgeries was worth every step I took.

Enjoy the photos both here and more mind blowing scenes on the T Town Tommy flickr page.

  Made it to the top!

Overlook of water fall

Touchdown

After dragging my butt out of bed at 4 am and six hours of air travel I am finally back in Seattle. Everything is still where I left it and the view of Mt. Rainer from the airplane is spectacular. I sent several emails to random gay people in the LGBT Northwest Washington area hoping to get a feel for its gay society or lack of society, especially in the rural areas of Washington State. I have never visited with any gay people up here and have no clue what the community offers its residents.

Unfortunately I have only received one response from a man in Everett Washington a small town north of Seattle. He responded “if you want to meet a guy then go to a bar! (i am trying to be polite)”. So much for some post about the LGBT community here! If this kind of rudeness is the standard of the greater LGBT Seattle community I think I will stick to enjoying the restaurants, natural beauty of the area and visiting family. How sad indeed.

Back from Seattle

Deception Pass Bridge, Northern Washington State

After almost a two week stay in Seattle I am back home in Tulsa. As usual whenever I leave for a little while I spend a few days just getting caught up with the business and the home.  Between the jet lag, Frontier Airlines losing my luggage and a hasty upgrade to Windows Vista on my computer I have been swamped! Thankfully after a lot of hustle and some readjustment of my sleeping schedule back to central time I am back to my normal day to day routine.

I had a blast in Washington State and Seattle.  I spent the last half of my trip in the north most part of the state hiking in the evergreen forest and walking down the cold rocky beaches. Being land locked in Oklahoma for so long seeing the massiveness of the ocean was both overwhelming and refreshing. The fresh spruce smell of the forest, the carpet like feeling of the trails and the feeling of ocean breeze on my face was simply incredible.

I only spent a couple of days in Seattle proper; my goal was a commune with nature.  I needed to put behind me the stress of everyday life and the hustle that goes with running a business. To go on a hike with me through the Washington State Forest and a look at the coast head over to my flickr.com site to see the photos. I think you will find them as breathtaking as what I experienced during my little escape.

Day Five Update on Seattle

Downtown Seattle from the Space Needle

Day five is over of my vacation to Seattle. I spent the last few days doing what most normal families do during the holidays. Something most of you take for granted being allowed to have a nuclear family by our government but is a rare treat for me. I spent Sunday at a church picnic and finally learned how to play croquet; I was the last one out and still not sure exactly who won. Winning of course was not the point, having fun and enjoying other company is the true goal of the game. The food was great, I ate way too much and the church members made me feel more than welcome to join them in fellowship. It was the first church picnic I can remember attending since I was probably fourteen years old in Humble, Texas my original home town before I became an Okie. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed family church functions. Memories came flooding back to me of years past, bittersweet but enough to savor.

Yesterday I visited the Microsoft campus in Redmond. To those doubting the health of Microsoft I can attest to the growing of the grounds and the rapid expansion of new buildings for upcoming projects. I was given a guided tour of the campus, some behind the scenes glimpses of day to day operations and a visit to the Microsoft store. One of the most enjoyable highlights was getting my hands on the new Microsoft Surface interface in the visitor center. The company has a overhead map up of the city of Redmond and instead of using a keyboard or mouse I had the freedom of using my hands and fingertips to move the map, rotate it 360 degrees, zoom in on points of interest all using the power of touch on a huge glass surface.

Yes the cost for the interface is going to be outrageous but being able to interact without the tethers of keyboards or a pointing device that have tied down computer users since the first personal computers in the early 1980’s was amazing. After using the interactive map I had a good enough idea of the area to make my way around the computer geek utopia that is Redmond and the city is great. I shopped the malls for several hours and will need an extra suitcase to get everything back home.

Today I spend the day earning my keep and was able to let my gay designer side come out in my own version of Color Splash Seattle. Seems some straight husbands don’t quite have the knack for painting and color. My friend’s wife and I got rid of the white walls upstairs in her house and added some character and style. Tonight we cleaned up and headed into downtown Snohomish for a steak dinner for the family, my treat, then off to the movies.

My friend and I went to the new Bruce Willis movie Live Free or Die Hard. After the massive disappointment in movies this spring and summer, seeing Bruce doing what he still does best was a great change. The script was smart, the action sequences where tight and mind blowing, and the movie kept me entertained and on the edge of my seat. The other movie sequels this year so far have kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to leave, not so with this installment of Die Hard. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to what a summer action movie is suppose to be and go see the best installment of the Die Hard series.

The weather here is still absolutely wonderful with sunny and mild days and cool breezy nights. The residents here are bitching about low 80 degree days being hot. I laugh as I know what’s in store for me when I return to Oklahoma. I looked up the forecast for my return on Sunday to Tulsa; humid, oppressive, and the mid 90’s.  Oh to be an Okie!

My Seattle Escape and Mexican Musical Chairs

Seattle Space Needle

The fun of traveling is you never know what’s around the next corner or the unexpected surprises that wait to fall in your lap. I usually try to catch air flights early in the morning giving me at least an extra half a day in cities that I visit. However for my Seattle vacation the shortest flight available left at 5:30 pm from Tulsa International, so I was traveling during the evening. I usually don’t fly Delta airlines and now I know why I try to avoid their flights. The smaller regional jet was late leaving the gate in Tulsa getting me into Salt Lake City with ten minutes to catch my next flight. Unfortunately my next flight was at the other end of the airport and I was hauling a 40 lb back pack.

Now I am not a twenty five year old, I will be thirty seven in a couple of weeks. The thought of running from one end of a large international airport to the other with the equivalent of a little person strapped to my back with my blown knees and only walking for exercise for the past year was pretty daunting but I went for it. To my surprise I made it to my connecting flight totally out of breath with my calves and knees screaming for mercy with thirty seconds to spare. The others flying with me from the previous connection trying to get to the same airplane where about to pass out from the run. Looking at their bright red faces I realized that all that walking is paying off. I was not in near the bad of shape as I had thought compared to other some younger than myself.

The flight attended at the gate gave us a sadistic smile and said the plane will be delayed another thirty minutes. All the running and panic was in vain. You would think the flight attendant giving us the head start at the other end of the airport could have been more up to date and possible avoided some passengers from pushing a heart attack running a mile in under ten minutes.

Finally boarding the Boeing heavy I noticed some chaos and confusion while people where trying to make it to their assigned seat and row. Migrant workers, some of which I will assume have never been on an airplane before, just grabbed a random seat throughout the entire airplane. I can understand the thought process assuming flights work the same as a bus ride on the ground with first come first serve on seat choice. Chaos ensued and none of the immigrants spoke English. The desperate attendants trying to get the second leg of the flight off the ground kept trying to communicate in English by speaking slower and LOUDER.

Ok lets step back for a minute, I don’t speak Korean, if you speak to me slower and louder in Korean I am STILL not going to have a clue what a person is saying. Finally the attendants had all the Hispanic immigrants stand in the aisles until everyone was seated then just stuck them wherever there was an open seat. Forget about announcements to put your chair in the upright position or raise your tray, they had to go to each immigrant and again speak LOUD and slow to them to no avail. At least I got a great laugh during my flight.

I have received various calls, text, emails and a comment asking me if Seattle was raining as much as Tulsa and the answer is a resounding no. Yes it was cool and pouring down when I arrived and a few off and on showers  yesterday but over all the weather has been cool, sunny and just a beautiful as I have always remembered in the Great Northwest. I spent yesterday visiting with my friends and packing up for a overnight stay in Seattle proper and a welcome party. A party that ended at 4:00 am pacific time while my body is still on central time. Lots of great food, plenty of cocktails and wine, great company, lively debates, and a beautiful view of the Sound kept me going till the sun almost rose. I think the full moon must have played a role in everyone acting pretty ornery.

I finally woke around 11:00 am today with what felt like a marching band thudding in my head and a knotted up stomach. Yet another reminder that I am not twenty five anymore. By about two pm I was good to go again and we headed to the Seattle Convention Center for a ride to the top of the Space Needle.

Visiting Seattle off and on for the last seventeen years I had never gone to the top of the over 600’ tall structure and I was determined to finally check it off my list of things to do on this visit. The city of Seattle has done an outstanding job maintaining the facility and the view at the top was worth every penny spent in ticket fare.

True to my “family” being around the world, I of course got cruised by two cute guys while up trying to get some great pictures of the city. It was nice to know I still got “it” but with kids in tow and my wonderful straight friends, nothing other than my beaming smile and a cowboy nod was as far as they got with me. After a day of sight seeing including the Troll Under the Bridge, a statue of Lenin imported from Russia that actually kind of looks like me, and a wonderful meal we headed back to home base of Snohomish. The sunset over the huge spruce and cotton wood trees with the mountains in the background was breath taking.

I have a gut feeling this week is going to be a wonderful break and a blast. Stay tuned for some fun pictures of my trip, including the Troll under the bridge, the sights from the top of the Space Needle and other interesting sights from the Northwest.

Heading to Seattle

A View from the City of Seattle's Sound

I am getting geared up for my next vacation of the summer. I am off again to Seattle, Washington starting this Thursday June 28th through the 8th of July. I am really looking forward to spending July 4th with my friend and his wonderful family. For the last twelve years my best friend growing up has lived in Northern Seattle. A few years ago he and his family moved to the historic former logging town of Snohomish just north of the city to raise their kids and have land for horses.

Although it’s felt like I have been living in Seattle all this month with the tremendous rain we have been getting in Tulsa it will be nice to escape the heat for awhile. It will also greatly recharge my batteries to head out to the Sound and hopefully off to the coast for a day. I have always loved the scenic beauty of western Washington State and will be posting a ton of great photos I hope while on my trip.

My goal is to post almost everyday while traveling and letting everyone know what I am up to on a daily basis. If anyone has any suggestions of things “non-tourist” to do or try while I am up there I am game for anything once. I have been visiting Seattle since 1990 on a regular basis and hope to one day move to that part of the United States. While I love my Oklahoma and Texas, Washington State has always called out to me on a deep spiritual level. I would also love to meet some of my readers and fellow LGBT bloggers while visiting the area so send a shout out! A few of you have my cell phone number and my email on this blog I check daily, so don't be shy!

More Cool Cincinnati Sites

Great American Ball Park - Cincinnati, Ohio

Happy May Day Everyone! I spent my day running around trying to get the ball rolling on a new computer consulting business. I did manage to get up more photos of my trip to Cincinnati! I had forgotten to set my camera to 800 x 600 during my visit and have worked to resize everything from the maximum camera setting that would look good only on IMAX. Follow my link here or on the side bar to Flickr.com to check out more photos of really cool sights in and around the Southern Ohio area.

Post Cincinnati Report

Cincinnati turned out to be a great trip! I stayed so busy I hardly had time to check email. When I said I was going to be comparing Tulsa to Cincinnati I had no idea about the radical difference of the two Mid-West cities. One posting won’t be nearly enough. I quickly learned that the one thing the two growing and developing cities have in common is a dis-unification of vision among its residents.

I will be going into detail this week on what Tulsa can learn from Cincinnati’s missteps and accomplishments from the viewpoint of a visitor. In the meantime enjoy some of the views of the downtown area. Head over to my Flickr site to see some great photos of what Cincinnati is doing to its downtown area. The Tyler-Davidson fountain alone is amazing and makes the one the City of Tulsa installed look like a concrete wading pool. More photos will be coming this week as I get a chance to process and post more images.

Baby if you ever wondered…

I have had the theme song from “WKRP in Cincinnati” in my head all week. I am off to Cincinnati, Ohio this Thursday for a much needed escape from Oklahoma. This will be my first trip to Cincinnati and I am really looking forward to spending time with friends and hopefully meeting some new and cool people. The majority of my travels over the years have been to large cities in the United States so visiting a city about the same size of Tulsa will be really interesting.

As usual I will be photo documenting my vacation as I do all of my trips. So please stay tuned over next weekend and Monday morning for what is sure to be many great photos of Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky. To see a ton of fantastic photos of both Cincinnati and Southern Ohio check out Cincinnati  Dayton blogger Chris Glass.

I will be staying with my good friend Drew of drew-o-rama during my vacation. On top of being a great Cincinnati blogger, photographer and master knitter, Drew is also a graphics designer and is responsible for the masthead on T Town Tommy. If you want to see what a man can do with needle and yarn go over to his blog and check out some of his awesome creations.

Ok, time to finish some last minute packing and crash out. As usual I wind up with the 6:00 AM flight out of Tulsa. Getting up at 4:00 AM is going to be a bitch but hopefully there are no crying babies on the plane and I can get some shut eye. Stay tuned and have a great rest of the week everyone!

WKRP in Cincinnati Intro Song